We have been trying to participate more in ‘Meatless Mondays’ recently. What are Meatless Mondays? Essentially that – no meat of any kind on Mondays, and instead you eat meals filled with plant-based ingredients. Sometimes my cravings for steak or chicken take over my control to only eat vegetarian on Mondays, but other times I’m totally able to convert to vegetarian for one day. I was looking to create a dish with what I had on hand in my pantry, and these flavorful tostadas were born (yay, I remembered to write down the recipe)!

These sweet potato and black bean enchiladas are delicious. They whip up in no time, and you can eat them a variety of ways. Chris prefers tacos over tostadas so he used taco shells for his dinner. I have to be honest, I think this recipe tastes even better the next day, especially when paired with a poached egg and some sriracha on top! Boom.

Peel the sweet potato and dice. Also, dice the onion and mince the garlic. In a large skillet, heat to medium/medium-high and add olive oil, sweet potato and onion, sauté for 5 minutes. Add vegetable stock, salt and pepper and simmer until liquid reduces down and sweet potatoes are fork tender. Add garlic and tomato paste and combine ingredients. Let simmer for a couple minutes to cook garlic and tomato paste, then add remaining ingredients – black beans, spices and salsa. Let it cook on low for about at least 30 minutes – with keeping watch of the liquid. Optional: You might want to keep adding splashes of stock occasionally and reduce it down so the skillet does not burn the base of the dish.

Cheers!

Looking for more Meatless Monday ideas? Check out this blog post filled with 7 Pasta ideas.

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I have been needing a mix-up of my morning breakfast routine. Eggs, toast and fruit or gluten-free oatmeal, can get old after a while. A smoothie is my answer, as of lately. It’s healthy, fast, fresh and fills you up!

We have been so busy lately! In between events (Whew! SXSW wore me out!), work and wedding planning; I feel like I haven’t been able to take a breather and relax 100%. Speaking of wedding planning, things are moving along nicely. I actually went wedding dress shopping recently and found “the ONE” in Austin at a cute local boutique. It feels real that it’s getting close and I’m thrilled.

Also, I’d like to give a shout-out to the hilarious - April Peveteaux - who recently had a book signing for her new book coming out titled ~ Gluten is my Bitch (available for pre-order on Amazon). Thanks for mentioning our mobile app, Locate Special Diet, on your SXSW panel April!

Blueberry-Banana Morning Smoothie

Serves 1

Ingredients:

2 cups almond milk (or milk of choice)

1 medium ripe banana

2 tablespoons cashew butter (or nut butter of choice)

2/3 cup frozen blueberries

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 packet stevia (optional)

2 tablespoons ground chia seeds

Directions:

Combine all ingredients in a blender and blend to combine. Serve chilled.

I know, I know… another crock pot or slow cooker recipe. I can’t help it. I think I might be addicted. There’s no excuses here… you just chop it up and throw it all together in the pot. It’s that simple. It’s also nice that you can come home to a house smelling delicious, from your dinner cooking all day.

I used a kitchen scale to measure the amount of squash I had. Feel free to improvise.

What’s new with us? Just working away on all of the new features we are adding soon to Locate Special Diet. We are about to expand the mobile app to include ALL 50 states! Super exciting! If you haven’t downloaded it yet, it’s free and available on iPhone and Android ~ Locate Special Diet Mobile Apps

Coming soon to the blog in the next two weeks – The Annual Gluten-Free City Guide! I’m also putting together a Vegetarian City Guide and a Paleo City Guide for Austin. If you do not live in Austin, apologies … regular posting will resume after those posts have been completed! They are in association with the wonderful organization – the Austin Food Blogger Alliance. Speaking of the AFBA, I’ve had the privilege to contribute to the first-ever Austin Food Blogger Alliance Community Cookbook! My gluten-free olive oil pancakes and grilled lime-paprika broccoli will be making an appearance. If you would like to pre-order the cookbook, you may do so by visiting this link: Pre-Order. The cookbook makes a great gift!

Butternut Squash Soup

(Gluten-Free, Dairy-Free, Soy-Free, Vegetarian)

Equipment: I used a 5 quart slow cooker

Ingredients:

~2.75 lb. of butternut squash (cubed). I used about 2 lb. and ~12.5 ounces.

1 large white onion, rough chop

3 cloves garlic, throw in whole

1 can coconut milk, unsweetened

8 cups water

1 bunch leeks (approximately 3), white parts sliced

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon black pepper

1 tablespoon arrowroot

Optional garnish: Italian parsley

Directions:

Peel the butternut squash and scoop out the seeds (save for roasting later). Slice the butternut squash into medium size cubes. There is no need for this to be perfect, as you will blend this all in the end. Leeks are dirty so make sure and wash them! Slice the white parts of the leeks and place in a bowl of water. Swish the leeks around to remove dirt and drain the water. Rough chop the onion. In your slow cooker, place all of the above ingredients and mix to combine some. Cook on high for 4 hours. Depending on the strength of your slow cooker and size, you might have to cook longer or shorter. Stir every once in a while. Once the butternut squash is fork-tender, use an immersion blender to blend ingredients until smooth. Depending on the amount of butternut squash you use, you might need less water or more water. I prefer my soup slightly thicker, so I used more squash and less water. It’s hard to mess this one up

Prefer to cook this on the stove top instead? Sure, it’s possible. Use a large soup pot or dutch oven and use the same amount of ingredients. You will need less cooking time for this preparation.

Yes, you read that right … Cinnamon French Toast Egg Sandwich (gluten-free, dairy-free and sugar-free). That’s a mouthful, literally. I’ve been on a french toast kick lately, thanks to my sister, who re-introduced it into my breakfast routine recently. I hadn’t had french toast in years. Mainly because I forgot about it, and am normally a pancake person. Now I am hooked… [Read more...]

It’s finally here. After a year and a half of work and research, the Locate Special Diet website is live. Oh… it feels so good to type those words. Let me tell you a little bit about my baby…

Locate Special Diet helps people find local businesses that cater to a gluten-free, vegetarian, or organic lifestyle.

The database currently includes approximately 30,000 businesses in over 27 U.S. cities. Users can browse local restaurants and grocery stores by location, dietary preference and type of food. There is also a section to filter places that offer gluten-free, vegetarian or organic drinks. Austin is currently the only city with the largest drinks database, and it includes places to get smoothies, juices or even gluten-free beer.

Don’t see your favorite local business in the database? Users can submit businesses to Locate Special Diet and after they are approved by our team, we will add them in. This includes restaurants, grocery stores and drinks for any city. Our team is also furiously working to extend the current database to reach others looking to find places that cater to their special diet lifestyle.

I thought I would share some of my Favorite Things About Locate Special Diet.

Keep calm and carry on. That is easier said than done sometimes, but I keep telling myself that. See the stack of papers above? Apparently, I need to have it all memorized by October 22nd (cumulative Masters final). Yes, I need to stay calm.

Happy first day of Fall! Fall is definitely in the air here in Austin (kind of). The temperature is giving us a short break (hopefully long break), pumpkins are being spotted at our neighborhood grocery stores, and the candy is filling the shelves for the trick or treaters. It’s hard to believe it’s almost October. Life gets busy. Especially when you are starting a company companies, finishing graduate school (October!), and just the general hustle and bustle of life… [Read more...]

It feels good to be back…to blogging, back in my own kitchen, and back to life in Austin (minus this ridiculous heat). Over the past month I have been in Jackson Hole, Wyoming on our yearly summer vacation. I rode my bike to Teton Village almost every day, hiked in Grand Teton National Park, stuffed my face with gluten-free goodness from Lotus Cafe and The Kitchen, and just relaxed. It was just what I needed.

It has been a wild summer. I just finished writing my thesis (I got an A!) and am currently preparing for my cumulative final for my Master’s program. If I pass my exam in October, then I will graduate with my Master’s of Science in Human Nutrition degree. That’s fun to say…I’m a Master of Science. These days I feel more like a master of multi-tasking. I’ve become this insane list person that has to write down everything, and keep multiple lists going to get things done. The good thing is, things are getting done and they are getting done on time. We are getting closer and closer to the announcement/launch of our business, which should be sometime this fall (fingers and toes crossed). [Read more...]

Summer is officially here, according to the calendar. But, I think we have been in summer mode for a while here in Texas. It has been hot-hot-hot with little rain. Except for last night when I woke up in the middle of the night to hear loud claps of thunder. That was certainly a nice surprise! Because of the intense heat, it has been easier for me to not be tempted to go play outside, and to stay inside and work on my thesis. [Read more...]

It’s officially grilling season here in Austin, Texas. Yesterday, it reached a 100 degrees in some parts of Austin. I can’t believe it is already that time of year again…super intense heat day after day, and the only way to stay cool is if you are in some sort of water. Even the shade doesn’t help. Luckily, Chris and I are going on Lake Travis this weekend for Memorial Day. Lounging on floats on the lake is one of our favorite things to do, especially surrounded by good friends we have not seen in a while. It’s going to be a [Read more...]